In Part One of this blog, we covered the best ways of looking after your engagement ring. The comment we made about “no housework” certainly got a few responses!!!!
In this blog, we focus on the best ways to clean your engagement and diamond set wedding rings at home.
Platinum Ring With Dents And Scratches
Looking After Your Engagement Ring at Home
A quick and easy way to clean your engagement and wedding rings at home is with a soft brush such as an old toothbrush, warm water and a drip of dishwashing liquid. All you need to do is cup a bit a water in your hand, rub the toothbrush in the dishwashing liquid, dip it into the water and gently scrub your rings, both the top and underneath, taking care to get the bristles of the toothbrush in and under the settings and underneath the diamonds. Rinse the rings in warm water, blow the excess water out of the back of the settings, and give them a quick dry with a hair dryer. Do not over-heat your rings.
If you want to go a little more high tech, you can also buy ultrasonic cleaners fairly cheaply these days. These do a great job cleaning your engagement and wedding rings. All you need to do is fill them with warm water, a good squirt of dishwashing liquid, then put your rings on a little hook, such as a paper clip, turn the sonic on and dangle them in the water. Don’t leave your rings to rattle around in the bottom of the tank, keep them on the hook. A few seconds in the cleaner should be fine. Remove your rings and rinse under warm water. As outlined above, all you need to do then is to blow the water out of the back of each ring and dry with a hair dryer, again taking care not to over-heat them.
Having Your Engagement Ring Re-Polished
Every 18 months to 2 years, depending on how well you care for your engagement and wedding rings, you should take them back to where you purchased them to have the settings checked and to be re-polished and if made in white gold, re rhodium plated.
Re-polishing and plating takes out all small scratches that have occurred over time and makes rings look like new again. Having the settings checked is important, as the claws on rings are very small, and as gold is soft, catching the ring on something or a few hard knocks can be enough to damage the claws or pull them out of place, which exposes you to the risk of losing a diamond. And of course, diamonds can be chipped and broken – they are not indestructible! It is a good idea to have your jeweller thoroughly check your engagement and wedding rings for any damage that may have occurred.
These scratches and dents will polish out, but the deeper the dents, the more gold you need to polish away to remove the damage. Naturally, you can’t keep doing this forever, as the ring will become thinner and thinner.
Provided your engagement and wedding rings are well made to begin with, you exercise due care when wearing them and ensure that they receive regular maintenance by a good jeweller, you will be able to enjoy wearing them for your lifetime and have beautiful heirlooms to pass down to your family. Looking after your engagement ring is not difficult, and you will gain so much pleasure from looking at the beautiful, well cared for ring on your finger.
